April 29, 2014

Well I am using the different types of flour for the creation of these buns, as it gives me the option of using rye flour, which otherwise would stand in my kitchen without any purpose.

As usual after baking I am freezing the majority of the buns, so I have a stock of buns, which easily can be de-frosted in the micro-wave oven and turned into a "look-a-like" warm bun directly out of the oven after baking.

Instead of buttermilk you could use plain tap water, but I had some buttermilk standing in my refrigerator, which I needed to use instead of throwing it out.

Three flours buns: - 22-24 buns

30 g salt

10 g yeast

200 g rye flour

400 wheat flour

400 spelt flour

2 tablespoons honey or sugar

350 g buttermilk

350 g water

First add the yeast, flours and salt into the mixing bowl of the mixer.

Start to whip on low speed, slowly add in the buttermilk, water and honey. Knead the dough on the mixer for 10 minutes.

After the kneading process, let the dough raise cold night over.

Divide the dough into equal size buns, I always a kitchen scale for this purpose in order to ensure equal baking of the buns, I target a dough amount of 80-90 g per bun.

Place the buns a baking tray covered with baking paper, and let the buns raise for another 45-60 minutes.

Heat up the (conventional) oven to 200'C.

Bake the buns at 200'C for 30 minutes in the middle part of then oven.

April 27, 2014

What to, when you have ½ l of dairy whipping cream looking at you with "angry eyes" from the refrigerator with an overdue date of 2 days !!!! Well the first step is to sniff to the cream, does it have a sweet cream flavour or is it having a strange unwanted flavour. The flavour was excellent, so I decided to make two portion of different soft boiled caramels, twisting recipe on soft boiled caramels by Mette Blomsterberg.

It took me a total of 1 hour to some my overdue dairy cream into some excellent tasting caramels, this portion with orange and a new portion of liquorice caramels.

For some reason I wanted to make caramels with orange using the zest of orange combined with 4 drops of citrus flavour. I added the orange zest and citrus flavour after, that the caramel mass had reaced the temperature of 121'C. Another time I will add the orange zest into the caramel mass during the cooking process. Still the flavour addition should first be done at the cooking is done, as the flavour can disappear during the cooking step.

I also decided to fill the caramels into individual serving size during the filling after the cooking, as this is much more easy, so you do not have to cut and pack the caramels after the cool down. However, you should do, what you prefer to do !

Soft boiled orange caramels": - 30 caramels

30 g butter

250 g dairy whipping cream, 35-40% fat

250 g sugar

50 g glucose syrup

1 organic orange - only the zest finely chopped

4 drops of citrus flavour - optional

Add all the ingredients into a small cooking pot.

Stir very well during the heating process of the caramel mass, until the temperature reach 121'C.

Add in the orange zest and citrus flavour and stir very well. The caramels will start to look like a volcano due to the liquid in the orange zest.

April 25, 2014

Well my colleagues really liked the taste of these liquorice cream caramels, but they found them to be too hard boiled. After contact to the caramel expert at work, I was advised to lower the cooking temperature from 137'C to 121-122'C, as this would give the caramel texture instead of the texture of a hard-boiled candy.

Well, the texture is right, but the taste of liquorice has nothing to do with liquorice, as the liquorice powder is located on the outside of the caramels. Also it is tricky to divided the caramels after the cool down period into equal size. And on top of that, you have pack each individual caramels into cling film. Next time I will go back to fill the caramels into individual portions from the very beginning. And I would advise you to stir these caramels very frequently, as they have an tendency to burn. Perhaps an increase in the butter amount could reduce the burning ?

April 21, 2014

Today it is Easter Monday and it is the last day in the Easter vacation.

I have located this recipe on Hot Cross cookies on the blog What Kate Baked. And it gave me a great opportunity to empty my kitchen cupboards from various leftovers from my Christmas baking. In Denmark we have a saying: "Christmas lasts untill Easter", so I knew, that I had to bake these cookies. And a huge thank you to Kate for sharing this recipe with us as reader and writers out here in blog land.

Hot Cross cookies a la What Kate Baked: - 24 cookies

125 melted butter

75 g soft brown sugar (brun farin)

50 g sugar

1 egg

225 g (cake) flour

1 teaspoon Stollen spice or mixed spice

1 teasspon bicarbonate of soda

50 g sultanas

50 g raisins

25 g candied sucat

25 g candied orange peel

50 icing sugar for glazing

Heat up the (conventional) oven to 180'C.

Beat sugar and sugars together for 2-3 minutes using an electrical mixer.

Add the egg and whip again into a homogenouse mass.

Stir in the flour, spice and bicarbonate of soda by hand.

Stir in the raisins and dried fruit.

Form the cookie dough in a rounded ball with the size of checnut.

Cover the baking tray with baking paper.

Place the cookie dough with big distance between each cookie ball.

Bake the cookies in the upper part of the oven at 180'C for 15 minutes.

Cool down the cookies, before decorating them with sugar icing with the shape of a cross.

April 19, 2014

Today is Easter Saturday, being the third day of the Danish Easter vacation. And today it is time for making your own Easter tea. Instead of using various spieces as done in Christmas tea, I decided to use the approach, when making this Elder flower tea. As the violet petals are dry, where was no need for drying them, before mixing them with the tea.

April 17, 2014

Today it is Maundy
Thursday (Skærtorsdag), which is a public holiday here in Denmark and starting off the Danish Easter vacation with 5 days off from work. And at the same time it is the start for my little Easter Calendar 2014, where I every Easter day will be sharing a new recipe having a relation to Easter of some kind.

We will start off with a new thing, which is marzipan cake called fuglereder a la Odense Marcipan (bird nests), which is very fitting with busy birds outside finding a new or old mate to courtwith, building a nest to be filled with eggs.I must admit, that I got a little anoided, when I noticed that the packaging of baking stable marzipan (being a part of my goodie from Odense Marcipan) only contained 300 g instead of the 500 g baking stable marzipan stated in the recipe !!!! So I went for a combination of baking stable marzipan and tradtional marzipan with 63% almonds. And I got not noticed any defects in these cakes !!!

April 15, 2014

This picture of the burger being served at Sommelier located in Copenhagen Airport is not very colourful, however the taste is excellent.

I normally eat my lunch here, when I am having the time for that in the airport, as you can sit a little away from the busy walking areas and relax on your own.

I really like, that you are being asked how much the meat part of this burger should be cooked such as medium or well done. The burger bun is not enormous, so you have the felling you are eating more bread than beef. And the fries are worth killing for, as they has the right texture without any raw centre and a good tasty level of salt. The burger is served with tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and green pickled chilies.

This burger has an estimated serving time of 15 minutes

I paid 313 DKK for one burger, a glass of white wine, a small soft drink and a cup of black tea. I will give this meal 4 stars.

April 12, 2014

From time to time it happens, that I eat something else besides from bread and cakes :-)

Stop worrying, I actually eat break, lunch and dinner very single day, but I am not posting that many recipes on my dinners, but now it is time for share a main course recipe with you.

This recipe can easily be eaten and enjoyed over more evenings, if you make own big portion.This original recipe (kalkungullash med svampe og druer på knuste kartofler) is found among various recipe on evening dinners at Fakta. However I have made a few adjustments on the amount of some of the ingredients.

I really like the use and taste of juniper in this dish, and the variation in texture coming from the grapes, mashed potatoes and spinach leaves.

Turkey gullash with mushroom and grapes: 5-6 servings

150 g spinach leaves - washed

1200 g potatoes

150 g grapes - use what you have of green or blue grapes

375 g brown mushrooms - cut into
quarters

250 g sour cream with 38% fat

1½ dl vegetable stock

1½ tablespoon dried juniper - mashed

900 g turkey breast - cut into smaller pieces

2 small onions - chopped

olive oil

salt & pepper for seasoning

Fry the onion in the hot olive oil in a big cooking pot.

Season with salt, pepper and masked juniper.

Saute the turkey pieces.

Add in the vegetable stock, and lets everything simmer for 5 minutes under lid.

Add in the sour cream and bring it to the boiling point.

Add in the mushrooms and let the dish simmer for 40 minutes under lid.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes

Add in the grapes and let the entire dish simmer for 5 minutes under lid.

Mash the potatoes without any addition of milk and butter as usual for mashed potatoes.

Fill mashed potatoes as bottom layer, followed with spinach leaves and top of with the turkey gullash.

April 10, 2014

After a brisk walk from the hotel to the Red Square, Moscow and back again (8 km in 1½ hour) during a recent business trip to Russia, I decided to eat at the hotel instead of walking around to find a place to eat.

Flamingo

I started off with a cocktail called Flamingo, which was champagne, Cointreau and cranberry juice. It is not an over sweet cocktail probably due to the use of cranberry juice. Perhaps I should create my version in my kitchen ?

The menu card at the restaurant of the Marriott Tverskaya had marked the Russian food with small Russian flags, so they could easily be located among the various options. I went for the Russian food a bit like do as the Romans, when in Rome !!!

Therefore I choose blinis with red caviar as starter, as I am huge fan of blinis with red caviar. The important thing is, that you always remember to make a small tasting of the sour cream, when eating in Russia, before you spread it on this blinis. And also in this case, the sour cream was rancid in the taste, which is a awful off-flavour. I enjoyed the blinis and red caviar without destroying my taste buds with the sour cream.

As main course I had selected pasta in white and black colour in cream sauce, cray fish and yet some more red caviar. However, this dish was a disappointment for me, as the amount of red caviar was only a few eggs and the rest of the dish was heavy in consistency coming from the cream sauce.

I do not recall the price for this menu. I will give this meal 3 stars and remember to stay away from the Russian paste dish another time. The blinis and red caviar as excellent.

April 08, 2014

As mentioned previously I, well my participant, made it all the way to the final in the TV programme "Danish Idol" (X Factor) and became second in the final. Therefore I had to bring marzipan cake for our celebration at work.

Instead of baking a more traditional marzipan cake from marzipan, icing sugar and egg white, I decided to jump into spring mood making orange flower marzipan cake :-) I have already share the recipe on mint chocolate marzipan cake with you, which I made as well for this celebration occasion.

The only difficulty using this flavoured marzipan is, that the cake structure is different, these cakes can not hold their shape and they float more out. Otherwise the taste is great. So this specific marzipan is not perfect for baking marzipan cakes.Orange flower marzipan cake: - 10 pieces

April 06, 2014

For no special ocassion I have decided to make this give away to you :-) The prize is a fabtastic book (Kager, desserter & konfekt med hjertet) with plenty of recipes for cakes, desserts and candy, where the main ingredients is marzipan. The book is written in Danish

Your contribution is to leave a comment on what your favourite flavour combination within Easter egg is, regardless of this Easter is home-made or not. I will at the end of this week draw one lucky winner among all the received comments fulfilling the above stated requirement.
You can leave your comment in either Danish or English depending on your preferred language.

On my last give away I received two comments for a total of two gifts, which means you will have an excellent chance to win and get hold of this gift, if the trend with few comments continue.

The winner will be selected at random from all comments received full-filling the above mentioned requirements. The winners will be notified within 1 week after the closing date. The price is as stated, so no cash alternatives are available. This give-away is open to EU + Nordic countries entrants only.

The closing of this Springtime give-away is Sunday 13 April 2014 at 20.00 (CTE time zone).

April 05, 2014

I can hear the comment, which my good girl friend in Horsens will make when she reads this blog post: "You are again being ottomok !!"

I have found the originale recipe on the pearl otto in seasonal free food magazine called "Sæson for god smag", issue 3/2013. However, as I only had half of the need amount of tomatoes and had a surplus of brown mushrooms and red pepper fruit, I made several modification. Also the amount of vegetable stock was reduced, as the pearl
barley could not adsorb more vegetable stock.

Pearl otto with tomatoes, pepper fruit and mushrooms: - 4 servings

1 onion - chopped

2 cloves of garlic - chopped

5 brown mushroom - sliced

2 tablespoons of olive oil

300 g pearl barley or risotto rice, if you can not find pearl barley

2 dl white wine

8 dl vegetable stock

250 g tomatoes - diced

100 g red (or green or yellow) pepper fruit - diced

salt & pepper

basil leaves

30 g pine nuts - toasted on dry
pan

Parmesan cheese - grated

Heat up the oilve oil in a big cooking pot.

When hot add in the onion, garlic and mushroom and let them fry.

Afterwards add in the pearl barley and fry them as well for 2-3 minutes until they have a golden colour.

Pour in the white wine and let it e absorb by the pearl barley.

Gradually pour in the vegetable stock and let it be absorb by the peral barley. This takes approx. 20-25 minutes, where you have to stir on a regular basic.

Add in the diced tomatoes and pepper fruit and let the pearl otto simmer for another 3 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Served the pearl otto topped of with Parmesan cheese, basil leaves and roasted pine nuts.

April 04, 2014

A few weeks ago I was on business trip to Moscow.
This time I was soo luckily, that I had the time for fast stroll from the hotel to the Red Square, as I was staying 4 km away from the Red Square, so I took on my fast shoes and walked in 45 minutes enjoying the sunshine in the middle of March.

On top of the good and beautiful walk I also went to dinner with some good colleagues in a nice restaurant, where I have forgot the name, but I am able to find the location again on my own.

As starters we shared some dished between us, so we could as many things as possible. So we got a big plate with freshly pickled cucumbers, more matured pickled cucumbers, cabbage in vinegar and fermented tomatoes. The freshly pickled cucumbers was a perfect combination of freshness and brittleness :-)

The other starter was small pirogs with fillings of either with meat, mushrooms, cabbage and potatoes. An OK starter, but the freshly pickled cucumbers was just soo much better in my opinion.

Pirogs with neat, potatoes, mushrooms and cabbage

"Strogannov"

As main course I decided to have "Strogannov", which has been one of my favourite dishes since childhood. And mu mother is very good in cooking this dish, so I have never made it myself !

The "Strogannov" made with veal, white mushrooms, mashed potatoes and cucumber in barrel. The taste was great, the mashed potatoes was home-made and the combination with chopped red onions was a nice flavour combination, which I will try myself in my kitchen.

Cranberry cake with white chocolate

As dessert we had cranberry cake with white chocolate. Again an OK cake, but nothing extraordinary.

I have no clue, what the price was for this meal, as I was not paying for it. I will give this meal 4 stars and I am ready to go back again, if I am in Moscow on a later occasion.

April 02, 2014

Suddenly I am in a strong current baking various recipes from the wonderful bread book called "Hjemmebagt" getting closer and closer to the magic step, where I have managed to bake me halfway through the book.

The recipe is called Hjertebrød "Heart bread" as it baked in heart shape oven stable form with a lid on. However, as I do not have such a form and as I did not want to damaged my heart shaped cooking pot handle by using it for baking, I used a round form for the baking and therefore ended up with a circle shaped bread.

The bread making process involves the use of pre-dough. which is when you let a small amount of yeast, flour and water raised warm 24 hours in advance. When you knead the pre-dough together with the rest of the ingredients followed by 2 times 2 hours raising process, where you after each raising de-gas the dough. After this you let the dough raise for another hour in the baking form followed by baking in the form keeping the lid on during the entire baking process.

The taste is great in itssimplicity. I could easily imaging to work further with this recipe using olive oil, olives, herbs or other things for bringing a taste twist to this bread.

April 01, 2014

Easter is falling late this year, in mid April, so naturally the kitchen theme for April is be Easter (I assume to no big surprise for you).

I will be making an Easter calendar for you to follow between 17-22 April bringing you various suggestions, which will involve the use of egg, chocolate and marzipan.

You will also in the near future be able to participate in a give away relating to some of the stuff from this gift bag from Odense Marcipan. Curious ? As hint - you can not eat this gift, but you can eatable things using it !!! Hope you got the clue :-)

Besides from Easter I will on the look out for seasonal things, which you can in nature and use for cooking. On top of that, I will also be planting potatoes in plastic cups for my own home-grown potatoes.

Hannibal the Cat involved in project violet

Actually Hannibal the Cat and I have been hunting for violet this evening, so a new portion of violet syrup a la Lavender and Lovage can be produced. However, I will also produced something else with violet inside for drink purpose, any clue ?

In case you can wait for the Easter Calendar, I will share the two most popular blog posts relating to Easter as a little teaser.